1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wheel system to regulate tire pressure, and more particularly, to an air regulating system for wheels incorporating a temperature sensor and a compressor assembly to maintain a predetermined tire air pressure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many designs for air pressure systems have been designed in the past. None of them, however, include an air system designed to increase and decrease air pressure automatically to a predetermined air pressure while compensating for temperature changes within a tire cavity.
Applicant believes that the closest reference corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,489 issued to Curlett, et al for a wheel-mounted tire inflator. The wheel-mounted tire inflator teaches the maintenance of pressure within a vehicle wheel tire to a pre-set level with the air supply being produced by a pump which is driven by centrifugal force, i.e., the wheel rotation creates a centrifugal force which activates a weight to move a piston which pumps the tire inlet air. The pump can be mounted outside or inside the tire volume. Another pump uses the impetus from bumps encountered by the wheel to drive the pump. However, this prior art does not teach a mechanism for decreasing air pressure of a vehicle wheel tire.
Other patents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.
The present invention provides for a compressor mechanism that automatically maintains the pressure inside a tire relatively constant over a given temperature range.
The present invention is an air regulating system to maintain a predetermined air pressure for a tire in a wheel assembly. It comprises a compressor assembly with first and second ends, said first end perpendicularly and radially mounted within a wheel assembly. The compressor assembly has a weight therein below a diaphragm and it is cooperatively shaped to travel within said compressor assembly. The weight is biased against said first end by an operating spring. The operating spring is fixedly secured beneath the diaphragm to the weight. The compressor assembly is operated by centrifugal forces, which cause the weight to move radially outwardly and by the operating spring urging the weight to move radially inward.
The compressor assembly has first regulation means to allow air to flow in or out of said compressor assembly and second regulation means. First regulation means comprise a two-way valve mounted on said wheel assembly, said two way valve in the open position when said weight is biased against the first end. Furthermore, first regulation means comprise an ambient air system with a two-way valve system having a spring biasing a ball against a pin. First regulation means further comprises a passage way strategically placed and shaped within to prevent liquids such as water, that may filtrate, to displace air within said first regulation means.
The second regulation means allow pressurized air to flow between a compression chamber above said diaphragm and the tire. The second regulation means comprises a two-way valve mounted to said housing assembly above said diaphragm to allow for the flow of pressurized air to attain equilibrium between said compression chamber and the tire when said weight is biased towards the second end. The second regulation means comprise a two-way valve system having a spring biasing a ball against a pin.
A temperature sensor is fixedly mounted to the second end and is filled with matter that reacts to fluctuations in temperature. These fluctuations causing said temperature sensor to expand or contract proportionately to a change in said temperature. In an alternate embodiment to the temperature sensor, a pressure sensor can be fixedly mounted to said second end, said pressure sensor having a diaphragm that reacts to fluctuations in tire and compressor pressure causing said diaphragm to flex proportionately to a change in said tire and compressor pressure.
Furthermore, a counterweight is secured to the wheel to compensate for a dynamic imbalance when said tire and said wheel assembly is rotated.
It is therefore one of the main objects of the present invention to provide an apparatus to maintain the pressure inside a tire relatively constant over a given temperature range where pressurized air flows in or out of a tire, based on the direct relationship of a tire temperature and tire pressure.
It is another object of this invention to provide an apparatus to attain and maintain a predetermined air pressure in a tire by using a temperature sensor in cooperation with a compressor assembly.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus utilizing energy from a centrifugal force to automatically increase and decrease air pressure within a wheel and tire assembly.
It is another object of this invention to provide an apparatus where the operation of the temperature sensor is based on how the temperature of a tire affects the pressure of the tire.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an apparatus to maintain the pressure inside a tire relatively constant over a given temperature range without the need of human intervention.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide such a device that achieves a desired predetermined air pressure in cooperation with the temperature of a tire.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide such a device that is inexpensive to manufacture and maintain while retaining its effectiveness.
Further objects of the invention will be brought out in the following part of the specification, wherein detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing the invention without placing limitations thereon.